Inner Wisdom
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"Amidst the rush and confusion of modern life something old and wise is trying to catch up with us. When the trouble becomes so profound that no amount of knowledge can provide a solution, it is wisdom that must be found. Whereas simple knowledge tends to divide things, genuine wisdom tends to make meaningful unity possible. Wisdom involves hidden unities and uncommon knowledge. Wisdom is both as old as the ages and as fresh as the current moment. And each person has inner medicine and natural wisdom waiting to be found and be brought to the work of healing ourselves and serving the world.
Wisdom is always valuable because it remains hard to find; like the pearl of the self it hides where most people prefer not to go. Unlike information that can never really add up to much and unlike knowledge that can become overly bright, wisdom combines darkness and light. Wisdom can reveal the light hidden in dark times; but it requires that we face the darkness in ourselves. People may desire pearls of wisdom, yet most are unwilling to descend to the depths where the pearls wait to be found. Wisdom involves a necessary descent into the depths of life, for that alone can produce “lived knowledge” and a unified vision.
Wisdom and true freedom are found where we submit to the way we are intended to go and surrender to the mysterious ways we are intended to grow. Wisdom involves knowing enough to be able to guide others towards the knowledge and experiences they most need. But wisdom also involves the song of life and requires learning the rhythm and song in one’s heart and soul. Wisdom is not a gloomy bird; nor is it a matter of abstract ideas. Wisdom involves both hidden truths and necessary beauties and it helps hold the two worlds together.
The word wisdom draws upon two old roots: one carries the sense of guidance, while the other refers to a lyric or a song. Wisdom develops from finding the genuine way of one’s life but also grows from learning the lyrical song of one’s soul.
The inner wisdom of one’s life shapes the path that must be followed; but it is also carries a song-line that runs all the way through to the end. Those who become wise become both older than others and younger at the same time. The wise may become older because the weight of knowledge makes one feel older; but they become younger as well by learning to attune themselves to the song carried in the soul and the rhythm kept by the heart. Wisdom involves a dark knowledge of the intricacies and entanglements of fate as well as the surprising thread that reveals where destiny is hiding.
Fate keeps troubling the soul and even endangering the world until people accept that some deep truths must be faced. When the time for healing comes and the wounds of life can no longer be denied, those who are closest to the wounds will be better able to face the truth and start the healing. When there’s no time left for sending out for physicians or waiting for magical antidotes, the medicine must be found where it has been all along, within us. The wisdom of the world is such that each soul has something to contribute in terms of the presence of inner truth and each can offer a part of the remedy so desperately needed.
Waking up in life involves awakening to the soul’s inner dream and the original imagination. We are always close to the source of wisdom because it dwells within us; yet some fateful events are needed for the little-self to let go and wake up to the true situation. The deep self harbors the core imagination that drove our soul to life to begin with. In that sense, the exact knowledge so often sought in the outer world can be found dwelling within the soul all along.
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